MILAN: Cristiano Ronaldo has been recalled from Portugal as Serie A clubs get back to individual training on Monday after a two-month coronavirus lockdown, but doubts remain over whether the championship can return.
The interior ministry’s go-ahead for players to return to club training facilities two weeks ahead of schedule has offered fans hope that the 2019-20 season might yet be saved.
The government was responding after regions that had avoided the worst of the pandemic took matters into their own hands and gave permission to clubs to open their facilities for players to train on their own.
But sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora has warned that although individual training can resume, training in groups must wait until May 18. And with Italy still in the grip of the pandemic which has killed nearly 29,000, it is uncertain when matches will be able to restart.
“Nothing has changed compared to what I have always said about football,” said Spadafora.
“Team training will not resume before May 18 and the resumption of the championship, for now, is not really discussed.”
Spadafora added, as if to confirm his difficult relationship with professional football: “Now excuse me, but I’m returning to take care of all the other sports and sports centers (gymnasiums, dance centers, swimming pools) which must reopen as soon as possible.”
The Corriere dello Sport daily on Monday created a front-page photo of the minister with a dagger about to burst a ball, with the headline “Attack on Calcio.”
Officially, all 20 Serie A teams have unanimously backed a return to competition, despite reservations from clubs such as Brescia and Torino, in the north of Italy, which was particularly hard hit.
Torino president Urbano Cairo conceded there were “divergent opinions.”
With the league suspended since March 9, football authorities point to the severe economic impact for a sector which according to the federation posts a turnover of 4.7 billion euros ($5.1 billion) and employs more than 120,000 people.
Clubs from the less affected areas of the country have been talking about going back to training for weeks.
Following decisions from local governments, teams such as Napoli and Parma have followed the lead of Lazio — who trailed leaders Juventus by just a point when play was suspended — and set dates this week for players to train.
Sassuolo became the first team to resume individual training on Monday, with Bologna set to follow on Tuesday, then Lazio and Roma after their players and staff undergo coronavirus tests.
Inter Milan said “first-team players will, on a voluntary basis, be able to make use of the pitches at the Suning Training Center in Appiano Gentile over the coming days for individual activities.”
Champions Juventus have recalled their overseas players, including Ronaldo, who once back from the Portuguese island of Madeira will have to spend two weeks in quarantine.
Juventus began carrying out medical tests on their players at the club’s J-Medicial center in Turin on Monday, local media reported.
The first to arrive were Federico Bernardeschi, Juan Cuadrado, Carlo Pinsoglio, Leonardo Bonucci and Aaron Ramsey, all wearing face masks.
City rivals Torino are also cautiously preparing to return to training.
“The contagion is still important and we are not yet out of the problem,” Cairo said on the 71th anniversary of the Superga tragedy, a plane crash which killed all the members of the legendary ‘Il Grande Torino’ team.
“We must be on high alert. The restart on a day like this is something symbolic.”
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) will hold a meeting on May 8 which could be decisive, although president Gabriele Gravina warned he would “never sign for the end of the championships,” which he said would be “the death of Italian football.”
Cristiano Ronaldo called back to Italy as Serie A gets back training amid doubts
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Cristiano Ronaldo called back to Italy as Serie A gets back training amid doubts
- Return to training gives fans hope season might be able to resume
NBA–DCT Abu Dhabi long-term renewal expands league’s footprint across UAE
- Academy launch and youth programs headline new agreement which sees pre-season games continue in the capital
ABU DHABI: With New York Knicks orange and Philadelphia 69ers blue splashed across the stands, fans streamed into Etihad Arena on Yas Island last October to watch two of the National Basketball Association’s most well-known franchises take center stage.
The sell-out games were another sign of how far the NBA’s presence in Abu Dhabi and the region has spread, and that footprint expanded further this week when the league and the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi confirmed a long-term renewal of their collaboration.
The extension will see pre-season NBA Global Games continue in the emirate alongside the launch of a new NBA Global Academy and expanded youth and fan programming across the UAE.
The agreement formalizes what has increasingly become a year-round NBA presence in the capital. Since the first Abu Dhabi Games in 2022, a stream of high-profile NBA teams has played preseason games in the city — Milwaukee and Atlanta that year, followed by Dallas and Minnesota in 2023, reigning champions Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets in 2024, and the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers last October — bringing MVP talent such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid alongside championship rosters and perennial contenders.
Away from the bright lights of Etihad Arena, the NBA’s footprint has filtered into schools and community gyms across the UAE capital. The multiyear collaboration with DCT Abu Dhabi has gone far beyond preseason games, encompassing the Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Abu Dhabi League, fan festivals, player appearances and community clinics designed to promote healthy lifestyles and introduce young people to the fundamentals of the sport — an approach that research firm YouGov says has lifted basketball participation in the UAE by 60 percent and expanded the league’s local fanbase by more than 25 percent since the annual preseason visits began.
An NBA Global Academy will be launched in Abu Dhabi and will serve as the global hub for the league’s academy network, operating year-round as an elite basketball development and academic program for top high-school-age student-athletes from the UAE, the Middle East and beyond. The academy will include elite development programming for up to 20 local boys, basketball development activities for local girls and residential programming for up to 24 male prospects from the rest of the world.
Abu Dhabi will also host two annual youth tournaments under the expanded agreement, following the 2025 NBA Academy Showcase at NYU Abu Dhabi from Sept. 25 to 27, which featured elite teenage prospects from NBA Academy Africa in Senegal, IMG Academy in the United States, INSEP in France and Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence.
Mohamed Khalifa Al-Mubarak, chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, said the renewal reflected the emirate’s long-term ambitions in sport and youth development.
“Extending our partnership with the NBA further strengthens Abu Dhabi’s position as the new home of basketball in the Middle East and reinforces our commitment to our youth,” he said.
“The establishment of the NBA Global Academy in Abu Dhabi will open pathways for Emirati and UAE-based athletes, coaches and sports professionals to learn from the world’s best, while our long-term hosting of the NBA Global Games will inspire the next generation.
“Beyond bringing world-class sporting events to our capital, the NBA’s youth programs and grassroots initiatives encourage healthy, active lifestyles and connect our residents to the universal values of sport.”
From the NBA’s perspective, the UAE capital has become one of its most significant overseas platforms.
NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum said the collaboration had been instrumental in growing basketball participation and fandom in the UAE and across the Middle East.
“We look forward to building on those efforts in the years to come, including through the launch of an NBA Global Academy that will help develop elite-level players from the region and around the world,” he added.
The extended collaboration will also expand youth development programming that has already reached more than 20,000 boys and girls since 2022, with plans to grow the existing Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA leagues in Abu Dhabi and Al-Ain to six later this year and 12 by 2028.
The commercial side of the relationship is also evolving, with Experience Abu Dhabi remaining the NBA’s official tourism partner across the Middle East, China and Europe while the deal now extends into Africa, Asia, Canada and Latin America.
With more teams expected, academy graduates emerging and junior leagues expanding, Abu Dhabi’s role in the NBA’s international strategy appears set to deepen. Additional details about future NBA preseason games in Abu Dhabi, including the schedule and participating teams, are expected to be announced later.
